PERMACULTURE
EVALUATION
CENTRE
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Site under development
Last updated 27/5/05
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What's this all about?
There is an old saying: ‘Civilised man has marched across the face of the earth and left a desert in his footprints.’ (Carter and Dale, Topsoil and Civilization, p.6)
Could permaculture: ‘permanent agriculture’, be the key to reversing millennia of land degradation worldwide?
More specifically, could introducing conscious design into agriculture make it sufficiently sustainable and high-yielding, so that human communities could have their needs met on the least possible land area, and thus preserve the little remaining wilderness worldwide for other species, and release land for natural ecosystems to be re-established?
In order to implement this global vision, we would need local solutions, because every place on earth is different in local climate, land form, soils, and the combinations of species which will thrive. Not only does the land and its potential vary from place to place, but so do the people vary in their needs and preferences and their capacities. Every place and community requires its own particular design. Hence at the local level, permaculture designers often refer to permaculture as being about designing for ‘permanent culture’.
Twenty years after permaculture ideas and practices were introduced into Britain, there are disappointingly few recognised demonstration sites which show how permaculture can deliver its undoubted promise. There is an urgent need for the application of permaculture design principles to be assessed and shown to work in Britain (and elsewhere in northern Europe).
There are many reports, articles and websites with descriptions or summaries of permaculture projects, but usually they do not include objective assessments of what has been achieved, compared to design objectives, permaculture principles and ‘best practice’. This site has been set up to provide a repository of such information on permaculture activity in Britain. In this context permaculture activity includes projects, permanent sites, personal stories, and interesting land-based designs not yet implemented.
OVERALL AIMS
The overall aims and objectives of the Permaculture Evaluation Centre are as follows:
- To encourage wider take-up of permaculture in Britain by providing accessible information on the potential of permaculture and what has been achieved, on a dedicated website.
- To become a respected, reliable resource by using a professional, objective approach to the collection and presentation of information, analysis and comment.
OBJECTIVES
- To provide definitions of key elements of permaculture by selection from various sources, and by discussion of alternatives.
- To devise proposed evaluation methods and suggested definitions of evaluation criteria for permaculture projects or sites. To test these methods and criteria, and refine them over time via experience gained.
- To encourage site owners, project managers and designers to provide information on project/ site designs and achievements to date, using the proposed evaluation methods and criteria where possible. To present this information (on the website or in printed form) in an accessible and consistent manner.
- To assess and comment on the information provided, in order to identify lessons learned and recommendations for the future.
- To encourage a free exchange of information and opinion about any of the information on the website, via e-mail or discussion boards.
APPROACH
The Permaculture Evaluation Centre is run by Chris Marsh and David Gearing. As committed ecological activists, we would like to see permaculture understood and adopted more widely, but we have no vested or commercial interests in its promotion. We do not provide permaculture design, education or implementation services, and have no allegiance or business connection with any particular aspects of permaculture or to any specific projects, initiatives or individuals involved.
We intend to use a professional, objective approach to the collection and reporting of information, evidence and opinion. The sources and method of collection of all information used will be quoted. In seeking to build on what has already been done, the thinking behind decisions on what to include or exclude, and on comments on achievements to date, will be made explicit. Any points of dispute or disagreement will also be documented.